Course Category: asynchronous-courses

Will Buckingham (born 28 September 1971) is an novelist, non-fiction writer, and philosopher. Born in Norfolk. His education includes a master’s degree in anthropology from Durham (1997) and a PhD in philosophy from Staffordshire University (2007). Buckingham, held various academic posts including Reader in Writing and Creativity at De Montfort University, visiting associate professor at Sichuan University, and visiting professor of global cultures …

True Stories, Well-Told: The Art of Nonfiction Storytelling by Will Buckingham Read More »

For a character to come to life, usually we need to have a strong motivation (desire or fear), and a negative one might work even better than a positive one—namely fear of a perceived threat. Many genres are based on the generative and imaginative force of fear—murder mysteries, horror, ghost stories, war stories, disaster stories, …

Plot = Character + Setting with Josip Novakovich Read More »

Course Description: The easy temptation when one thinks about setting is to equate it with physical place alone. But this habit deprives you of a potentially much richer resource: the culture, psychology, and history of the places where you set your tales. Increasing your awareness of the aspects of setting that lie beneath physical place …

Beyond Physical Place: Expanding Your Sense of Setting Read More »

“One day, you will be old enough to start reading fairytales again.”― C.S. Lewis, The Chronicles of Narnia Course Description The more things change the more we need…monsters. But why do some chill us more than others? How do writers make invented magic seem real?  Why do characters talk so much during battle scenes? How …

SPECULATIVE FICTION Read More »

Workshop Description: What You Know: Writing Our Way Into the World Remember that old creative writing chestnut “Write what you know”? Turns out you know a lot more than you might have ever dreamed possible. In this interactive course, we’ll be exploring how as fiction writers we can imagine ourselves into different times, different places, …

What You Know: Writing Our Way Into the World Read More »

Description In this generative writing workshop, students will use the raw materials of their own lives to develop multiple drafts of a personal essay or other work of nonfiction. In the first half of this multiple-day workshop, we will work with lectures, readings, and assignments by the instructor to produce ideas and rough material, using …

Close to Home: Writing Personal Nonfiction Drawn from Life Read More »

About the workshop Good writing starts with strong characters. In this DEEP DIVE INTO CHARACTERS workshop, centered on personal nonfiction writing but applicable to fiction, novelist and essayist Diana Spechler will guide you through exercises and prompts that shine a light on human nature, your own nature, and the natures of your characters. About the …

DEEP DIVE INTO CHARACTERS WITH DIANA SPECHLER Read More »